.It appears as though Apple is really starting to loosen up the death grip (pun intended) its kept on the iPhone’s retail-distribution channels for the past three years. Yesterday, big box retailer Target announced that it would be carrying the Cupertino company’s iPhone 4 and iPhone 3GS smartphones in 846 retail locations beginning on November 7th. “At Target we continue to offer our guests the best in electronics so we’re happy to add iPhone to our Target Mobile offerings,” said Mark Schindele, Target’s senior VP of merchandising. The press release went on to say that “most” Target stores will be carrying the iPhone by mid-2011. Hit the jump for the full press release.